Students at several Orange County schools "sheltered in place" while sheriff’s deputies combed the campuses after receiving a phone call reporting pipe bombs may have been placed at the schools Wednesday.

All middle schools and high schools in the Capistrano Unified School District were affected, as well as some elementary schools.

The focus was later narrowed to San Juan Hills High School and San Clemente High School, and both campuses were deemed safe just after 3 p.m.

What you need to know. A Q&A with NBC4’s Dr. Bruce Hensel about the "superbug" bacteria that led to two deaths and several infections at Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center:

Question: How bad is this bug?

Dr. Bruce: CRE is not dangerous at all when it lives in the intestine, its normal habitat. But it can be deadly when it gets into the blood, which may have happened in some cases. Most antibiotics don’t work on it. Reports say it’s getting more common and up to 50 percent of people who get it in their blood may die.

Q: Who is in danger? Will it spread?

Dr. B: It doesn’t spread like the measles a flu or a cold. The only people in danger are people who had this specific procedure with a specific scope, called an endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, or ERCP.

During the procedure, a tube is put down the throat and pushed through the stomach to the intestine. Then a smaller tube comes out and explores the liver, bile ducts and pancreas.

This is only done on people who have problems in that area, and they are the only ones who are vulnerable. It won’t spread through the air from person to person.

Q: How did it get on the scope and why wasn’t it sterilized?

Dr. B: The scope is unique, highly specialized and tiny - the size of spaghetti - and even the maker warns about the difficulty of sterilizing it.

Q: So how can people protect themselves?

Dr. B: If told you need ECRP, ask if its really necessary. Ask how they sterilize their devices, including which scope will be used and how it is sterilized.

Q: Why would this happen at UCLA, which is such a high-level medical center?

Dr. B: That may be exactly the point. UCLA actually has great records in controlling bugs, and remember they found this themselves. But only high-level centers do procedures like this, and those are the places that have the most complications.

But, let’s be clear: it is a very small percentage of patients who have this procedure done and almost all have no problem. These procedures can save lives by finding things nothing else can find, so the risk has to be weighed against the benefit.

Remember, you’re only in danger if you had this particular procedure; not others like an Upper GI or colonoscopy.

Authorities were searching the streets of East Los Angeles on Wednesday for two masked intruders who tied up a woman during a home invasion, officials said.

Two masked men, one armed with a gun, entered a home in the 4200 block of Fisher Street in East LA about 8 a.m., according to the LA County Sheriff's Department.

The pair was surprised by the victim ,who came home during the robbery after dropping off her children at school. Wearing ski masks, they bound her with duct tape and continued to ransack the home, officials from the LA County Sheriff's Department, East LA Station said.

They ran away on foot.

The woman called 911 and reported the attack, officials said.

Torres High School was temporarily locked down as deputies searched the area, but classes were not affected, according to the Los Angeles Unified School Police Department.

Neighbor Maria Estrella said she was shaken up after hearing about the crime.

“You always have to be alert,” she said.

If you feel you’re paying more to put food on the table, it’s not your imagination. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the weekly grocery bill for a family of four, eating moderate amounts, has risen to about $247, about $30 more than in 2010. 

What’s surprising:  nearly half of that food isn’t even being eaten!

According to research conducted by the National Resources Defense Council, 40 percent of the U.S. food supply is tossed – unused. That translates into more than $160 billion worth of edible food, wasted annually.

The NRDC says in many cases, consumers are throwing out perfectly good food because of confusion over the dates stamped on food packaging.

"Those dates you see on foods, ‘sell by’ or ‘use by,’ … are actually not federally regulated," says study co-author Dana Gunders, a staff scientist with the NRDC’s food and agriculture program. "They are not meant to indicate safety."

Here’s what the dates do indicate:

"Use By" or "Best By": These are typically the dates the manufacturer decides the product will reach peak freshness. The dates do not necessarily indicate spoilage, or that the food is unsafe to eat.

"Sell By": This date is aimed at manufacturers and retailers to help ensure proper turnover in the store, so the product will still have a long shelf-life once consumers take it home.

Gunders says it can be safe to eat foods weeks, even months, past these dates. Eggs, for example, can be good 3-5 weeks after their “sell by” date.

Of course, once you open the packaging, the clock starts ticking on freshness. No matter the date, if a food’s color doesn’t look right, or it emits a foul odor, you should probably toss it.

For more information, check out the interactive guide at StillTasty.com

Police turned up empty handed after an hours-long search for a gunman in South Los Angeles that forced the lockdown of a nearby school, where some 100 children were participating in after-school programs, officials said.

Officers spotted a man with a gun about 5:25 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Western Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, LAPD officials said.

Police said he had a gun tucked in his waist band and ran into the school.

Officers chased the man, but lost track of him.

A perimeter was set up in the area near Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School, according to the Los Angeles School Police Department. The district's police department initially tweeted it was a middle school.

"We were in the library for the tutoring session and a half hour into it the LAPD came in and said that everybody had to exit the building," said parent Dorian Esters.

Police gave the all-clear about five hours after the search began and the lockdown was lifted.

Families were reunited with their children at a nearby restaurant

The after-school programs, Beyond the Bell and Youth Services, typically end at 6 p.m., district officials said.

A mother has been indicted in the attempted murder of her infant daughter after jumping into ocean from a jetty with the young girl, prosecutors in Atlantic County, New Jersey said.

Patricia Shurig, 24, was indicted on Tuesday in the incident that happened in Atlantic City on the evening of Oct. 26, 2014. Authorities said she leapt off a rock jetty on the Atlantic City Inlet holding her one-month-old daughter, Krishna.

Witnesses called 911 and rushed to pull them from the water. Krishna was not breathing, but was revived after the good Samaritans performed CPR.

Shurig's sister, Amanda Husta, told NBC10 last year Shurig was suffering from postpartum depression but did not indicate she planned to harm the child.

"I don't want people to think poorly of her because of her mental illness," said Husta. "I definitely want them to be understanding of the situation."

Police previously charged the mother with Aggravated Assault. She is out on $100,000 full cash bail.

If convicted, Shurig could face a maximum of 30 years in prison.

Emergency responders in Manchester made every effort to save a man who suffered a heart attack while shoveling Tuesday morning. He didn't make it, so they did the only thing left to do and finished the job.

Miroslaw Dabrowski, 57, collapsed while shoveling his roof on Scott Drive around 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, Manchester Fire Chief David Billings said.

Police arrived first and climbed onto the roof to perform CPR. Firefighters took over, using an automatic CPR device to administer chest compressions while they put Dabrowski on a back board and lowered him to the ground, Billings said.

They tried to resuscitate Dabrowski on the way to the hospital, but he couldn't be saved.

Billings said emergency responders can feel helpless when a life is lost, so they went back to Scott Drive and did the only thing they could: finished shoveling Dabrowski's roof while his family was at the hospital.

They felt compelled to help and knew it would be the last thing on the family's mind when they returned home, according to Billings.

He said Dabrowski leaves behind a wife and large family.

The Los Angeles Lakers played their 60th game and collected their 44th loss of the 2014/15 season on Wednesday night in Miami.

Jeremy Lin put in another noteworthy performance, but Miami Heat center Hassan Whiteside stole the show with 25 rebounds in the 100-94 win for Miami.

The Lakers started the games strong with usual suspects Wayne Ellington, Carlos Boozer and Jordan Clarkson combining for 18 points in the first quarter. When Lin entered the game, he quickly stamped his mark on the contest with five points and six assists before the halftime intermission.

At the halfway mark, Boozer and Ellington led all scorers with 12 points apiece. Heat forward Luol Deng led the home team with 11 points, but Whiteside had already started to disrupt the Lakers' shots and control the boards.

At the break, Whiteside already had nine points and eight rebounds. At the final buzzer, the towering center would walk off the court with 18 points, 25 rebounds and four block shots. As a team, the Lakers finished with only one block shot on the night.

"Well, you got one guy that out-rebounded all our bigs," Lakers coach Byron Scott said after the game on Time Warner Cable SportsNet. "I think that says enough."

Dwyane Wade may not be the same player he was five years ago, but he still finished with a game-high 25 points to go along with six assists. The Lakers shared the ball and finished with seven players scoring in double figures. No coincidence, all four bench players scored at least 10 points, as Lin continued to dish with precision and set up teammates.

On Wednesday, Lin continued to look comfortable wearing purple and gold. The 26-year-old entered the contest averaging 18.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 5.5 assists over his past six games, and the backup point guard finished Wednesday's game with 12 points and nine assists. He also added four steals to the box score.

In terms of game-flow, the Lakers and Heat went back and forth throughout the night. Leading by five points at the half, LA predictably came out slow in the third quarter and fell behind by 10 points. After a Lin-inspired rally (it took real effort not to use "Linspired"), the Lakers and Heat had a tie ball game with just under 11 minutes to play.

In the deciding quarter, the Lakers took hold of a slim lead early in the period and held on until Heat point guard Goran Dragic hit a three-pointer with 3:30 remaining to give Miami a 90-88 lead. From that point forward, the Lakers never tied or led the game again. Clarkson had an open look at a three-pointer to tie the game with 16.9 seconds to play. The shot did not fall, and the Lakers lost. 

Next, the LA Lakers travel to Tennessee and play the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday evening at 5 p.m. PT.

Four people were infected with a drug-resistant bacteria spread by a device used in medical procedures and another 71 are at risk because they were exposed to the same scope, officials with Cedars-Sinai hospital said Wednesday.

The device is used in some endoscopic procedures.

In a written statement, officials with the hospital said they have linked the bacterial infection to one device, and have increased the level of disinfection required between patient uses.

The hospital initially said 68 people would be receiving notification that they had been exposed to the bacteria that causes the infection, but changed that number to 71.

The hospital will be provided at-home kits for self-testing to those people to determine if they have the infection.

A similar device was traced back to an outbreak of the "superbug" at Ronald Reagan-UCLA Medical Center last month.

Two people died as a result of that outbreak.

The devices are difficult to sterilize completely, and even feature warnings from the manufacturer.

The bacteria exists naturally in many people’s intestines and will not affect them, but once it enters the bloodstream it can be deadly.

Hundreds of rain barrels will be given away during the month of March as part of an initiative to conserve water in drought-stricken Los Angeles.

Keep Los Angeles Beautiful, an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, was spearheading the 1,000-barrel project.

More than 600 residents in LA who pre-registered for the barrels in 2014 were given the rain catching drums last year. A new batch will be handed out over the next few weeks.

Keep Los Angeles Beautiful secured the 55-gallon syrup barrels that were converted to harvest rain from soft drink giant Coca-Cola.

Residents wishing to take part in the program can register by attending a community event listed online.

The Department of Water and Power is offering a $100 rebate for anyone who purchases a rain barrel, limited to four drums.

Capturing water is literally music to the ears of Silver Lake resident Craig Collins - he's got chimes that are triggered by rainfall. The water he captures are kept in six large barrels.

"I looked at my water bill and I thought this is something that I can really make a difference in my own pocket book and the well-being of the whole city," Collins said. 

A 1-year-old beagle mix is recovering at a New York City animal clinic after being rescued from a burning apartment in Queens, officials say.

The dog, named Duke, was taken to BluePearl Veterinary Partners after the fire at his home in St. Albans Tuesday, the clinic said.

The dog’s fur was matted with soot, but he wasn’t burned. Firefighters were initially not able to find the pup's owner, but later located the owner in the hospital.

“When we saw the dog, he was covered with soot and he was shaking,” said Det. Tara Cuccias. “It was clear that he was in distress.”

The NYPD took the dog over to BluePearl, where it is being treated for exposure to carbon monoxide. Veterinarians are using a special mask to pump oxygen into Duke’s lungs.

The pet charity Frankie’s Friends is paying for Duke’s care, which BluePearl estimates at about $6,000. Donations can be made at the group’s website.

In a rare case of a pet owner being held criminally responsible for its dog’s behavior, a Studio City woman has been criminally charged after her Akita attacked three people in the last year and a half.

The Los Angeles County District Attorney charged Cheryl Hargrove Hooks, 56, with three felony counts of "failure to control a mischievous animal."

"It’s very unusual" to criminally charge a pet owner when their dog bites, DA spokesman Richard Santiago told NBC4.

The felony charges come in the wake of an NBC4 I-Team investigation, which revealed how the Akita, named Brody, viciously attacked a woman in April 2013, then mauled a 7-year-old boy the next year, and then ripped off part of a man’s face last November.

After each instance, the I-Team learned that the city of LA failed to impound the dog.

But the victims told the I-Team they held the dog’s owner responsible for not controlling the combative Akita.

"We have three victims from the same dog, and unfortunately the owner still feels that it’s a safe dog," said Jon Hinton, whose son Jack was mauled by Brody in front of their home, requiring stitches and hospitalization.

The DA’s office also felt the dog’s owner was responsible.

"Looking at the picture of one of the victims, it’s just pretty graphic. You just can’t let your dog do that," said Deputy District Attorney Ron Carey.

Cheryl Hooks attorney, Carl Douglas, told the I-Team in a statement, "Ms. Hooks is innocent of these charges filed against her." He added that she is looking forward to telling her side of the story in court.

If found guilty on all counts, Hooks could face up to 9 years in prison.

If you have a tip on this story — or anything else — the I-Team wants to hear from you. Give us a call at 818-520-TIPS or email nbc4iteam@nbcuni.com.
 

A teenager from Woodbridge, Virginia, is in custody accused of helping another young man travel to Syria to join ISIS.

Sources tell News4 they fear the 17-year-old Osborne Park High School student may have tried to recruit other students to join ISIS.

His name has not been released.

He is being held in an undisclosed location as a juvenile.

The older teen, who traveled to Syria, is facing indictment in this case, but it's not clear where he is.

A 22-year-old man faces murder charges in the killing of a teenage girl at a San Fernando Valley motel, police said Wednesday.

Louie Lopez was arrested after police officers, responding to a call of a shooting at the motel on Roscoe Boulevard in Panorama City, discovered 17-year-old Wendy Martinez shot to death, the Los Angeles Police Department said in a news release.

Investigators said Martinez was visiting Lopez at the motel when she was gunned down. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene.

Lopez was arrested on suspicion of murdering Martinez, police said. He was being held on $1 million bail.

A motive was unclear.
 

Thousands of people are expected to descend on Alabama this weekend to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches, according to reports.

On Saturday, President Barack Obama and former President George W. Bush are among those expected to commemorate Bloody Sunday, when sheriff's deputies attacked with tear gas, batons and whips non-violent marchers who were trying to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on March 7, 1965. A record 95 members of Congress are also expected to be in Selma for the events, according to USA Today.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., leaders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee had made Selma the center of their voter registration campaign for blacks. The marches, which continued after Bloody Sunday, are credited with leading the way to passage of the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Here's a look at historic marches and their impact:

3: The number of marches for black voting rights that took place in 1965 to complete the 54-mile journey from Selma to Alabama's capital Montgomery. 

2: Less than this percentage of Selma’s eligible black voters were allowed to register to vote at the time, according to the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. 

600-Plus: The amount of people who attempted to march 54-miles Sunday, March 7, 1965, from Selma to Montgomery. While crossing the Edmund Pettis Bridge, Alabama state troopers and vigilantes beat the peaceful protesters with bullwhips, billy clubs and threw tear gas at them. Dozens were injured. Civil Right Activists and U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D-Georgia), who led the march, suffered a skull fracture, according to a transcript of his testimony during a federal hearing days after the march, on the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration’s website.

March 9: The date when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the second march, but turned the marchers around because state troopers again blocked the road. That night, a group of segregationists beat one a white minister to his death because he supported the Selma march. President Lyndon Johnson supported the marchers, and under the protection of Alabama National Guardsmen and FBI agents, Dr. King and about 300 people set off again on March 21 and marched 54 miles to Montgomery, according to the Martin Luther King, Jr., Research and Education Institute. They covered 7 to 17 miles per day, camped at night in supporters’ yards and were entertained by celebrities such as Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne.

March 15: President Lyndon Johnson addressed a joint session of Congress on this day in 1965, urging lawmakers to pass the Voting Rights Act that would protect African Americans from barriers that prevented them from voting.

March 25: The day when marchers arrived in Montgomery. Around 25,000 people stood before the state Capitol buliding, where Dr. King delivered the "How Long, Not Long" speech, according to the Library of Congress.

15: The age of Lynda Blackman Lowery, the youngest person to join King for the historic march. In a recent report, The Associated Press, the now 64-year old recalled that she got 28 stitches to close a wound on the back of her head and seven for a cut above her right eye.

1,500: The number of people who marched in Harlem in solidarity with the Selma voting rights struggle, according to the Library of Congress.

6 months: The number of months after Bloody Sunday until President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law on August 6, 1965. The law tackled discriminatory election practices that had prevented African Americans from being allowed to vote. States with a history of discrimination were since required to get federal approval before changing how they conducted elections. In the first four years after the law was enacted, the number of blacks eligible to vote rose from 23 to 61 percent, according to the Library of Congress.

January 9, 2015: The date when the Oscar nominated best picture movie "Selma" was wide released in the U.S. the The film, directed by Ava Marie DuVernay, chronicles Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and other civil rights leaders’ effort to secure equal voting rights and the march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965.

March 7, 2015: The date when the country will celebrate the 50th anniversary and reenactment of the historic march.

Long Beach police were asking for the public's help in finding a flasher who has exposed himself to children walking to school, and tried to grab at least one girl.

Six incidents have been reported since Feb. 11, the Long Beach Police Department said Wednesday. They occurred between 7:45 a.m. and 9 a.m. in the area between Coronado and Euclid avenues to 7th and 10th streets.

The man has been seen sitting in the passenger side of his parked car with his pants down, and sometimes masturbating as girls walk by, police said. He has called out to get girls to come closer.

In one incident, the man called out to a girl and another child near Euclid Avenue and 7th Street. Police said he opened his car door as the children were walking by and tried to grab the girl, who fled.

Police released a sketch, hoping for the public's help. The man is described as a white, in his mid-20s to mid-30s with brown hair. He was seen wearing a black shirt and black Dickies pants.

The man's car was described by police as a white "passenger" vehicle with tinted windows.

At least three women in the neighborhood said they recalled seeing the man.

"He was standing here one time a couple of weeks ago, just watching kids go by," said neighbor Rondi Lumpkin. "I've seen that car many of times."

Jacquie Janes said she once questioned him about what he was doing.

"He was kind of distant, a little aloof, and then when I said something to him, he just (acted) like he was doing something," she said.

Police said they have beefed up patrols in the area.

"Don't let me catch the guy," Lumpkin said, "because if I see him again, he's not going to walk out of here."

Anyone with information was urged to call Long Beach detectives at 562-570-7372.

A man in his 20s died after crashing his car into a parked big rig and plowing into a Pasadena building early Thursday, police said.

The crash happened just before 3 a.m. when the man lost control of his car on Fair Oaks Drive, Pasadena police said.

The man smashed into a parked semi-truck before crashing into the side of the building, police said. He died at the scene.

Additional details were not immediately available.
 

Three Southern California High school students scored a perfect 2,400 on the SAT, according to the Arcadia Unified School District.

Hanah Lee, Jeffrey Wang and Titus Wu of Arcadia High School took the standardized test in November. The SAT is designed to assess a student's academic readiness for college, and it's evident that these high school juniors are more than ready. The 16-year-olds received a perfect score in each of the test’s three sections: reading, writing and math.

Although test scores were mailed out shortly after the November test-taking date, the school district was unaware of the students' perfect scores until recently, AUSD spokesperson Ryan Foran said.

The trio of students all took the same SAT preparation course at Elite Educational Institute, however their interests and hobbies couldn't be more different.

Lee's favorite class at Arcadia High is AP biology. She hopes to attend Stanford University and study biology after graduating high school.

Wang's favorite class is also AP biology. He is close to earning the Eagle Scout ranking within the Boy Scouts of America organization and also plays on the volleyball team.

Wu works on Pow Wow, the student-run newspaper at Arcadia High. He said his "dream college" is New York University, where he hopes to major in journalism one day.

He said he was "very surprised" of his perfect score.

"I expected it to be a lower score… I think the major thing is that you read a lot on your own."

"All three juniors have worked very hard and are involved in numerous clubs and teams at the high school. Congrats guys!" the school district posted on Facebook.